Awards 1998

The inaugural British Independent Film Awards took place on the evening of 29th October at the Café Royal, London. The ceremony, hosted by Keith Allen, was attended by 400 guests, and saw Awards presented to Ray Winstone, Kathy Burke, Nik Powell and Shane Meadows, amongst others. The Awards became the first British film event to recognise Ken Loach as Best Director, and the only film awards in the world to offer an award explicitly for producing. Phillippa Braithwaite collected the first Producer of the Year award from Kerry Fox for her work on Sliding Doors.